CrabAppleLane Turtle - May 28, 2009
I was on my way home from work. I get about a mile from home and I see this guy in the tire track on the highway and he's right in a turn where he can't be be seen until you're on top of him. I missed him by a foot at most. I turn around at the first possible opportunity and come back. This takes about 3 or 4 minutes. He's still in the tire tracks and looks depressed.
The CrabAppleLane Turtle Rule: If I'm heading out and have time, I move him to whatever side he is heading. If I'm heading home, I catch him and release him at CrabAppleLane. As I approach this one, he decides to move and open his mouth to bite. I nudge him with my shoe and he gets just barely off of the highway. I nudge him again and he comes back out onto the highway right back into the splat zone. I try to pick him up but he is able to push my hand away with his front legs. His shell is almost exactly the width of my hand. There is a spot somewhere in the middle where he can't reach my hand with his front or rear legs but it took me a while to find it. He wasn't all that pleased with my
life-saving efforts. I finally got him in the truck, got him home, and released him where you see him above. He just sat there like a lump for about an hour. Ungrateful reptile.
Note: After momentary research this morning, it is quite possible that the turtle above is a female but I'm not certain enough to change all of the pronouns I've already used. I'm not concerned that I took a mother from her young, though, because turtles pretty much abandon them anyway.
Today's QOTD is ridiculous.
104 days until football season ...
Quote of the Day
Any movie with smoking should be rated R. And if they worry about an R rating hurting their profits, then they should work with studios to remove smoking from films that hurt youth.
Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Head of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: "Eric Lavallee of Ion Cinema was most taken by the film's opening -- "one continuous technically difficult long-take, around 10-plus minutes in runtime." He posted a short review -- "it is nature and not humans calling the shots" -- and then included it among The Top 10 Best Scenes from Cannes, hailing it for "explor[ing] the mysterious nature of the film's key location.""
I like that, "After momentary research ..." Very delicate. That was a good deed you did for the turtle, but also a good deed for youself. The turtle will take care of a lot of insects and insect eggs and larvae in the pond. I guess it's okay to call it a pond, hmmm?
I call it a pond. These turtles spend most of their days on land but there is water nearby if they need it. I've caught and released 20-25 like this. I've only seen two on the property since and those may or may not have been turtles I've released. They move on.
Good job, Rob. And I love the title of the post.
Female turtles can be very aggressive. They will literally bite the heads off their male counterparts. I sadly know this from experience.
Thanks, Dan. That title came to mind immediately.
I once encountered a snapping turtle on a highway in Madisonville, LA, Andrea. It was having none of my good will efforts. It moved quite a bit faster than the one pictured. It jumped at me to try to bite me and it succeeded in fending me off. I don't know if it got across the highway.
Good blog Rob. I like your system of saves.
"Ungrateful reptile.".....haha
Check this.....
http://skatetruck.blogspot.com/2005/08/turtle-karma.html
Like yours, too, PW.